In Health Committee Hearing with Dr. Fauci and CDC Director Walensky, Senator Rosen Urges “More Proactive” Federal Response to Increase Access to Testing
View/Download Video of Senator Rosen’s Questions HERE
WASHINGTON, DC – Today, during a hearing of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) on the Biden Administration’s COVID-19 response, U.S. Senator Jacky Rosen (D-NV) questioned top public health officials about concerns around the availability and accuracy of at-home rapid COVID tests to detect the Omicron variant as cases in Nevada continue to surge. In her questioning, Senator Rosen also asked about ensuring public health data remains up to date to include self-reported results from at-home rapid testing.
Senator Rosen posed questions to Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and the Chief Medical Advisor to the President Dr. Anthony Fauci, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky, and Acting Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Dr. Janet Woodcock.
“First, I do want to echo the concerns my colleagues have raised about access to testing, both in-person PCR tests and the at-home rapid tests,” said Senator Rosen at the hearing. “We do know that home test kits are scarce, Americans are standing in extremely long lines to get a COVID test, and hospital emergency departments in my home state of Nevada have seen a significant increase in people coming solely for tests because there just aren’t enough alternatives. This is only adding to the stress on our health systems… Nevada has been expanding our testing options, but increased federal support on the ground, in addition to home testing, we feel is absolutely critical, and in the future the federal response must be more proactive.”
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